When she was just a few months old, Maya started sleeping through the night. She would easily sleep from 7:30pm to 5:00am, waking up occasionally for one feeding around 1:00am. After waking at 5:00 in the morning, I would feed her and she would be out until 8:00am. We thought we were pretty lucky to have such an excellent sleeper on our hands.
Then Maya turned 6 months old. She began to get distracted when I'd feed her. She had a hard time settling down for naps and bedtime in her crib. She started waking up several times during the night. She wanted to explore everything and touch and taste and look at everything around her, and sleep? Well, that was just an inconvenience and something to be avoided so playtime would last 24/7. In her mind, anyway.
So, I (and she) developed a habit of nursing her to sleep. Because it worked like a charm (or like an Ambien).
And when she would wake up in the night, I'd take her to our bed- because who the heck thinks about their baby potentially forming a bad sleep habit from their actions at 3 in the morning?! All I wanted was a sleeping baby and a sleeping mommy.
So this nursing-to-sleep thing was a bad idea. Because what'dya know- now she relies on it. She doesn't know how to comfort herself. I put her to bed after she's fallen asleep eating and rocking. I cross my fingers and hope she doesn't wake up in the laying-down process (which is all the more difficult with a lowered mattress- my long arms simply aren't long enough and the last couple of inches are more of a gentle-ish drop) 90% of the time, her eyes fling open and the realization hits her that she is indeed in bed and that mommy will leave the room.
Awhile ago, I started letting her "cry it out" if she did wake up when I was laying her down. She typically cries for 5-15 minutes when this happens.
Right.
Well, as I've been told, babies wake up several times during the night (in fact, most people do). It's natural. And normally they stir and maybe whimper and sleepily cry and then they go back to sleep. But we have our bad little habit and when Maya wakes up in the middle of the night, the only way she knows how to find comfort is via her mom. And so, when I hear her over the baby monitor, I go to her room and feed her and rock her and within a few minutes she's asleep and she goes back in the crib.
She now wakes up every two to three hours during the night until 6:30 or 7 when she's up for the day.
At her 4-month checkup, her doctor let us know we could start eliminating night feedings because she had no physical need for it.
4 months later, here we are.
Now this is a boring and confusing admission of my (unintentional!) poor judgement. But whatever. I feel better, and determined.
It'll be brutal listening to her cry and making her learn to soothe and comfort herself. But because I don't want to be rocking (or nursing- HAHA) a four, five,six-year-old to sleep in the future, I think we need to make a change!
Then Maya turned 6 months old. She began to get distracted when I'd feed her. She had a hard time settling down for naps and bedtime in her crib. She started waking up several times during the night. She wanted to explore everything and touch and taste and look at everything around her, and sleep? Well, that was just an inconvenience and something to be avoided so playtime would last 24/7. In her mind, anyway.
So, I (and she) developed a habit of nursing her to sleep. Because it worked like a charm (or like an Ambien).
And when she would wake up in the night, I'd take her to our bed- because who the heck thinks about their baby potentially forming a bad sleep habit from their actions at 3 in the morning?! All I wanted was a sleeping baby and a sleeping mommy.
So this nursing-to-sleep thing was a bad idea. Because what'dya know- now she relies on it. She doesn't know how to comfort herself. I put her to bed after she's fallen asleep eating and rocking. I cross my fingers and hope she doesn't wake up in the laying-down process (which is all the more difficult with a lowered mattress- my long arms simply aren't long enough and the last couple of inches are more of a gentle-ish drop) 90% of the time, her eyes fling open and the realization hits her that she is indeed in bed and that mommy will leave the room.
Awhile ago, I started letting her "cry it out" if she did wake up when I was laying her down. She typically cries for 5-15 minutes when this happens.
Right.
Well, as I've been told, babies wake up several times during the night (in fact, most people do). It's natural. And normally they stir and maybe whimper and sleepily cry and then they go back to sleep. But we have our bad little habit and when Maya wakes up in the middle of the night, the only way she knows how to find comfort is via her mom. And so, when I hear her over the baby monitor, I go to her room and feed her and rock her and within a few minutes she's asleep and she goes back in the crib.
She now wakes up every two to three hours during the night until 6:30 or 7 when she's up for the day.
At her 4-month checkup, her doctor let us know we could start eliminating night feedings because she had no physical need for it.
4 months later, here we are.
Now this is a boring and confusing admission of my (unintentional!) poor judgement. But whatever. I feel better, and determined.
It'll be brutal listening to her cry and making her learn to soothe and comfort herself. But because I don't want to be rocking (or nursing- HAHA) a four, five,six-year-old to sleep in the future, I think we need to make a change!
